SHEEP. 
219 
their valleys wide and open. Here these sheep dwell throughout the year, 
rarely travelling from one mountain range to another; a single flock, when undis¬ 
turbed, frequently inhabiting one and the same mountain for many successive years. 
Up to the breeding-season the rams and ewes keep separate from one another, the 
former generally going in parties of from three to five individuals, while the latter 
are found singly; hut shortly before that time the two sexes assemble together in 
flocks of from ten to fifteen in number. They appear to be essentially diurnal in 
their habits, feeding in the morning and evening on the mountain slopes and 
valleys, and retiring to rest about midday. Both when feeding and sleeping, 
sentinels are placed to warn the flock of danger. In summer the argalis feed on 
grass and various herbs, but in winter they are compelled to subsist on moss, lichen, 
and dry grass. At such seasons they resort to the more exposed portions of the 
mountains, as it is there only that the wind has blown away the snow from the 
lichens and other herbage. According to Prejewalski, the pairing-season of the 
argalis in Mongolia is in the month of August; but Brehm was informed by the 
Kirghis that in Southern Siberia it does not take place till October. The younger 
ewes almost invariably give birth to only a single lamb at a time, but the older 
ones frequently have two. 
As with the American wild sheep, it has been frequently asserted that the 
argali when taking a long leap will break its fall by alighting on its horns. In 
both instances this statement has however been contradicted by the most reliable 
authorities. Prejewalski states he has seen these sheep leap down from a height 
of from eighteen to thirty feet and alight on their feet without harm. 
The country inhabited by the Tibetan argali is of the most barren and desolate 
nature, scorched in summer during the day by the untempered rays of the sun, and 
swept during the night and throughout the winter by blasts of icy coldness. For 
days the traveller may journey through these arid regions without seeing a trace 
of a bush, although he may here and there come across some low bush-jungle in 
the more sheltered valleys. As a rule, the elevations are undulating and shelving, 
and the valleys wide and open. In such exposed situations animals naturally 
become extremely wary, but this wariness is carried to the highest degree in the 
rams of the present species, which are considered by General Kinloch to be more 
difficult to stalk than any other kind of Indian or Tibetan game. The females and 
young rams, on the other hand, are not difficult to approach, and in Ladak may not 
unfrequently be met with in considerable numbers. In spite, however, of their 
general wariness, adult rams will occasionally approach within rifle-shot; the 
present writer on one occasion having seen a ram accompanied by two ewes cross 
a pass and deliberately descend the valley to within a short distance of the spot 
where he himself was lying concealed. During the summer the old rams are 
generally found in small parties of from three to four to upwards of some fifteen 
individuals of their own sex, and quite apart from the ewes; but the above- 
mentioned instance shows that they may occasionally be accompanied by them. 
The breeding-season is in the winter, when these sheep collect in the lower and 
more sheltered valleys; and the young are born in May or June. The flesh of the 
nyan, as the author can testify from personal experience, is most excellent, being 
dark-coloured, fine-grained, and well-flavoured. In Ladak the chief haunts of this 
